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A handful of “outraged” anti-vaccine activists occupied part of the sidewalk at the corner to 6th Ave. and 52nd St. today and listened to other angry anti-vaccine activists promote an anti-vaccine book and denounce Bill Gates.

Witnesses report 18 participants at an event which promoters predicted would draw “tens of thousands” of parents supposedly angry at the portrayal of the people they follow. One New York-based anti-vaccine group’s press release proclaimed “Bill Gates: We are not Child Killers” and read:

The protest and press conference against Microsoft founder and Chairman Bill Gates challenges his controversial remarks on national TV that those who question vaccine safety “kill children.” The attendees are demanding an immediate apology from Gates. The press conference will take place outside the Microsoft Executive Offices at 1290 Avenue of the Americas (corner of 52nd Street) in Manhattan. These groups will hold additional protests in Manhattan, Long Beach and Omaha where Gates will be speaking publically.

Gates’s actual words, spoken in a February 4 CNN interview, were aimed at leaders in the anti-vaccine movement who mislead parents into leaving their children vulnerable to dangerous diseases.

Well, Dr. Wakefield has been shown to have used absolutely fraudulent data. He had a financial interest in some lawsuits, he created a fake paper, the journal allowed it to run. All the other studies were done, showed no connection whatsoever again and again and again. So it’s an absolute lie that has killed thousands of kids. Because the mothers who heard that lie, many of them didn’t have their kids take either pertussis or measles vaccine, and their children are dead today. And so the people who go and engage in those anti-vaccine efforts — you know, they, they kill children. It’s a very sad thing, because these vaccines are important.

The rally was organized by Louise Kuo Habakus and Mary Holland, authors of Vaccine Epidemic, which has sold about 1,300 copies. Holland is an anti-vaccine lawyer. Habakus is an anti-vaccine activist who can be seen here on stage with a guy who sang “Vaccine Gestapo” at last year’s anti-vaccine rally in Chicago’s Grant Park. Sample lyrics:

They have swastikas on their shoulders
They’re such patriotic soldiers
They’re like a militia in Montana
They’re a government agency in Atlanta
Vaccine gestapo! Vaccine gestapo!
Vaccine gestapo! Vaccine gestapo!

A spokesperson for Gates emailed us today to say “The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation believes in the strong evidence behind the efficacy and safety of vaccines. There is overwhelming medical consensus that autism is not caused by vaccines.”

The southeast corner of 6th Ave. and 52nd St. in Manhattan where not much happened today.

glad to see that there were eyes on the ground for this. Even worse than the “Green Our Vaccines” rally which claimed a factor of 5 or more larger attendance than actually happened. 18 people–they should have held the rally in a Starbucks. At least they would have been warm.

1300 copies of “Vaccine Epidemic”? Looks like the publisher got burned with “Age of Autism” and “Callous Disregard” and decided a short first run for this was in order.

Good thing getting a comment from the Gates Foundation. I wonder if any press actually showed up. If so, I wonder if they will cover this as the non-event it was.

“So what if 18 turned up?” Don’t make me laugh AWOL. Actually I take that back I was already laughing when I got to your comment. As busy as parents are, if they are ‘outraged’ as organisers claim, in the numbers they claim then I would expect more than 18. Based on that number I could not see this event as anything other than an abject failure.

Actually, this makes me feel a bit sorry for the anti-vax movement. They are getting so fragmented. I guess the “300” people who showed up for the Vaccine Epidemic book launch had already spent enough time on this issue and couldn’t make it today.

Good article Ken. It seems as if the anti-vaccine folks are staying home these days. Hopefully they will rethink the decision not to vaccinate their children. God knows there has been enough evidence repudiating Wakefield’s study.

@AWOL, knew my comment would get a bite from you. And didn’t it produce a beauty?
What pray tell is cohersed? I dont’t think Ive had the pleasure. If on the other hand you mean coerced, then I’m sorry to tell you but I live in a democracy too. Where people can refuse to have immunisations. They still have access to schools. They simply have to keep their children home during any infectious outbreak. Not sure where you are getting your information from. But I do love it when someone from the UK tries to tell me what the laws in my own country are, then gets it wrong. Fail, as the kids say.

As for a pro vax rally, why would I bother? I don’t have a book to flog. And the overwhelming majority of parents in this country (Australia) vaccinate.

AWOL, like shooting fish in a barrel. I’ve actually been in Manhattan when a preacher (almost certainly a medicated soul) started blessing people loudly at random. He had a crowd of 30-40 in under 5 minutes both for the entertainment and for the blessings of a loon. I didn’t hang around until they hauled him off but crowds in NYC are easy and the anti-vax rally failed. Miserably.

I didn’t see the link showing your proof of thousands of vaccine injured kids from you from your first post. Thirty on the docket is pretty paltry compared to thousands. Especially since not all 30 will succeed in making their claim stick. The proof rather points away from vaccines and toward other causes. Keep trying though. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day!

Following up Sharon’s comments on Australia, NZ too allows people to opt out of vaccinations. Sadly the anti-vaxxers here got sufficient traction due to the Wakefield/McCarthy manufactroversy to now pose a serious public health risk.

Much of the population of Christchurch is now sheltering in crowded care-centers, including elderly, and very young children who can’t be vaccinated. The option of keeping the vulnerable out of harm’s way is simply not an option any more.

While we live in the North Island, my husband’s family are in Christchurch, and my husband has deployed with his Army unit down there for an indefinite period. I was in Christchurch during the first non-fatality quake in September, and my heart goes out to the people down there, going through it all again. If they have to deal with a measles outbreak on top of everything else, I can’t even think how awful that would be.

Hate to burst your bubble, but the press conference got ringleader Mary Holland on to a national broadcast this morning on Fox. And several NYC news broadcasts, W-PIX and I believe W-CBS, and several radio stations in America’s largest media market. Which was exactly the point of the event.

The press release didn’t say they were “representing” tens of thousands. The release said that this and other protests would “involve” tens of thousands.

“major press conference on Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 12:00 noon to announce the start of a multi-city protest involving tens of thousands of outraged parents”

One could say that given the readership of Orac’s blog that the event “involved” tens of thousands of people (his readers). Not really what drew the press though. Is it? Would the press have come if the release had said “a few people will talk to a couple more?”

As for the “reading comprehension” dig. This is a disability oriented blog. Not cool. But your goal wasn’t to support the disabled, it was to get yourself on TV.

Congrats. You’ll probably sell another books.

Don’t think that people here didn’t see the goal of the event. Besides that cryptic clue “press conference”, the huge strawman argument erected around Bill Gates sort of gave it away.

Do you think being on fox and friends countered having Mr. Gates call out anti vax groups on CNN? Funny how instead of saying “he’s not talking about us, we aren’t anti vax” you embraced it.

I have no idea what you are referring to on AOA. But did you check out the video of Mary Holland on a national news program in the US?

We never said 50,000 people were going to show up. But people with reading comprehension issues interpreted the message that way. We did it to get our message on TV. Which happened. We achieved the goals of the event. I know this is a difficult concept for many of the readers here to grasp. 18 of us spent an hour talking and we got media exposure that would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions to purchase. Don’t you get it? This is really simple stuff.

Wow, Fox and Friends! That is exactly the audience the anti-vaccine movement needs to reach – low information voters who think Obama is a Kenyan nationalist. If you connect the dots between DTP and Karl Marx, I’m sure Glenn Beck will open his door, too.

Mr. Gilmore, why should we trust a lawyer over a politically conservative medical doctor?

Also, I am not finding anything on http://news.google.com, so it is not necessarily national, and they even cover local news from around the world. And like I told a kid from New Jersey decades ago (when she was flabbergasted that I did not watch her local Channel 11): the New York television broadcasts don’t travel two thousand miles. It is not the center or capital of the country, or the location of either Microsoft or the Gates Foundation. So don’t be so provincial.

Superb event and smart thinking on the free TV coverage and great footage .

Chris

“why should we trust a lawyer over a politically conservative medical doctor?”

In these days in pharma land where a big bad wolf called Brian Deer roams who is trusted with out question by the pharma faithful, F.W.I.W.rather trust a lawyer on medical matters than a Journo ,or even better a cartoonist held up on here as God …

So Ken is upset that Mary Holland was on a network with a conservative editorial angle and Chris can’t understand why people wouldn’t listen to the conservative doctor. Correct me if I am wrong (I am confident Ken will do the fact checking) but I think Seigel is also a columnist for the Nation, one of America’s most left-wing publications. And the dissenting opinions on the court were from those flaming conservatives Sotomayor and Ginsburg. We got on national televison with our message and you guys are here on an obscure blog exchanging quips with me.

And you can’t stand the fact that we gamed the system, and had to explain it to you because you couldn’t figure it out. And if you haven’t watched the video check it out here:

I should have read all your comments before replying. Now I see that this is about congratulating yourself. Yep, that was impressive. With a handful of people you got a major news outlet to manufacture a news story. You rode the coat-tails of Bill Gates.

Yep, this is just a little blog. One which you think of as an outlet for your message. Funny that.

Enjoy the fame. Enjoy “gaming the system”. What’s that got to do with real people–vaccine injured or not?

And heres what you still need explained to you John. Science isn’t a popularity competition. You could have got 20, 30 interviews and a number one bestseller from the book (which I think you’ll agree, ain’t going to come close to happening) and you’ve still got nothing when it comes to establishing a causative link between vaccines and autism. Sorry son.

No John, you did not “game the system.” You gamed Fox and Friends. Alyson Camerota has been dutifully repeating your talking points since last September, so no need to go all Abbie Hoffman at the corner of 6th and 52nd when a phone call will do. Your huge media score sounds more like a Texas bullseye.

Vaccine safety and autism advocates Louise Kuo Habakus and Mary Holland, Esq. will join other citizens, parents and organizations at a major press conference on Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 12:00 noon to announce the start of a multi-city protest involving tens of thousands of outraged parents of children who have vaccine injury, autism and other chronic disabilities.

So, John, what are the dates and locations for the multi-city protests that were announced? I’m looking forward to an even bigger turnout than you had in NYC ;)

As for the “reading comprehension” dig. This is a disability oriented blog. Not cool.

My apologies for using it on Mr. Gilmore. I did not quite understand his answer to me. I looked at Dr. Siegel’s website. I sincerely doubt Mr. Gilmore would be happy with Robert Goldberg, PhD and his book Tabloid Medicine (and by the way, he is a Pharma Shill!).

Are any of those protests planned for Washington, DC, Denver or Albuquerque? Because they all have an alert due to a woman from the UK with measles going through their airports. Something else we can thank Wakefield for!

McD, the Google News feed on measles is full of news reports on Christchurch. It is horrible, and there is no way to escape it.

Just a few years ago my brother was living in Wellington (he now works in Denmark), and right now I am listening to the report the devastation here, the full interview with Liz.

I live in earthquake country (it is much like New Zealand, just diagonally across the Pacific), and there is a large anti-vaccine bunch. I am sure they will contribute negatively should there be a large earthquake. Yesterday my daughter asked if our emergency supplies were adequate. I assured her that we were okay, but our emergency military “MRE”s (Meals Ready to Eat) are out of date. Need to replace those.

On the website promoting the book “Vaccine Epidemic”, they have posted the statements made by Mary Holland and Louise Kuo Kabakus. Neither one announces “the start of a multi-city protest involving tens of thousands of outraged parents of children who have vaccine injury, autism and other chronic disabilities.”

And, unfazed by the low turnout of the first effort, they are doing it again. But now they are doing it on behalf of 100,000 concerned citizens. It will be streaming live. I wonder if they will get more than 18 people this time?

Press Conference Thursday, March 3 at 2:00 p.m. at the U.S. Supreme Court

(Washington, D.C.) Russ and Robalee Bruesewitz, parents of Hannah Bruesewitz, along with vaccine safety and autism leaders Mary Holland, Esq. and Louise Kuo Habakus will hold a press conference on Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 2:00 p.m. in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. They will denounce the Court’s ruling last week in Bruesewitz v. Wyeth. Vaccine-injured children are now denied the right to sue for defectively designed vaccines in civil court.

The Supreme Court’s decision will erode public confidence in childhood vaccines. On behalf of over 100,000 concerned citizens, advocates, and professionals, these leaders urgently call for vaccine policy reform.

Where: U.S. Supreme Court, 1 First Street, NE, Washington, D.C

When: Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 2:00 p.m.

Organizations that signed an amicus brief on behalf of Hannah Bruesewitz: Age of Autism; Autism Action Network; Autism One; Autism File; Center for Personal Rights; Citizens for Health; Coalition for Mercury-Free Medicine; The Coalition for Safe Minds; the Elizabeth Birt Center for Autism Law and Advocacy (EBCALA); Generation Rescue; International Medical Council on Vaccination; National Autism Association; National Economic and Social Rights Initiative; National Gulf War Resource Center; National Vaccine Information Center; New Jersey Coalition for Vaccination Choice; New York Alliance for Vaccination Choice; NoMercury; Pandemic Response Project; Schafer Autism Report; Talk About Curing Autism; Truth About Gardasil; Veterans for Common Sense.

KH and MH seem to make sport of twisting the English language, and misreading Supreme Court decisions. Pity, coming from a law professor from a purportedly “good” law school, who has two prominent medical scientists as parents, a brother who is an immunological chief at NIH, and an uncle who was a chairman of … a BIG PHARMA! This so-called “legal” patina, as well as calling public health advocates “vaccine gestapo” (when the authors called for a “reasonable dialogue”) is so disingenuous.
They apparently take comfort in their anger. Sad. It is a waste of their intelligence and cerebrally slothful to find scapegoats. Their pain is indeed evident- they’ve borne children in upper-class circumstances, and to see that they will not attain the dreams set for them is indeed wretchedly painful. But their solution is so, so wrong- and will result in the deaths of many who will, in their fear and anger, find an easy scapegoat. I could be tempted to call it Munich 1933, but I will not stoop to their level- especially when their efforts ought to go toward research to determine the TRUE causes of this and provide a science-based solution.

[…] to what happened with today’s rally from what I hear. Apparently, their big last minute rally turned up a whopping 18 protesters, which fell slightly short of their predicted turn-out of tens of thousands. […]

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